Seriously check out Wusikstation. It's a rather cheap rompler workstation with lots of sampled synth sounds and much more. They are having a group buy these days where you can get 15 gb worth of sounds for 59 bucks.I just purchased this the other day and I'm really happy I did so. Lots and lots of vintage sounding patches. Especially love the Fairlight sounds!! heh

The Escape From New York soundtrack is always in my playlist as is The Thing. I love those soundtracks. Also, maybe not horror per-se but definitely disturbing is the Clockwork Orange with undoubtedly one of the absolute best synth soundtracks ever created.

Clockwork Orange is one of my fav movies. It was really creepy the first time I saw it but I just watched it again a few months ago, and wasn't as disturbing as I remembered it, but the score was pretty cool.

"It had been a wonderful evening and what I needed now, to give it the perfect ending, was a little of the Ludwig Van." - Alex

The other dominant synth was the Yamaha CS80, which comprised the bulk of the PHANTASM score. Best Regards,-Lex

There's no CS-80 on that score. The only synths used were an ARP Odyssey and a Minimoog. Also featured on Phantasm are a mellotron, Yamaha YC-30 & YC-45D combo organs, Hohner clavinet, Fender Rhodes and piano.

Btw, shouldn't this thread go in the Electronic music instruments forum?

Yes, you are correct with regard to the CS-80 not being used on the soundtrack to PHANTASM. I was listening to a playlist named PHANTASM and misinterpreted CS-80's that was used on a squeal not the original

My Apologies for such a dreadful mistake, as the soundtrack to the original is far above to its successors IMO - Most people in the world tend to agree

Thank you for the correction; my apologies for the late acknowledgement.

Best,
Lex

Last edited by aTelecine-Lex; 16th November 2010 at 08:38 PM..
Reason: I should not use iPhone APP while walking in the AIRPORT

This is an awesome thread. I am making my first movie soundtrack (or trying to) and it is an homage to 80s horror, so I've had fun trying to capture that dated 80s sound. Strategically adding noise, wow and flutter, cutting the high end... it is really fun to succeed and make stuff that sounds 30 years old. Thanks for the awesome information. I would argue that there are a LOT of people who have a fetish for the dated 80s music aesthetic, especially the Italo sound which is really hard to get in-the-box. I am totally listening to every 80s movie I can, from The Monster Squad to The Heavenly Kid to The Garbage Pail kids. The more wretched sounding, the better. I just really need an 80s rock singer that has a studio and can sing a song.

This is an awesome thread. I am making my first movie soundtrack (or trying to) and it is an homage to 80s horror, so I've had fun trying to capture that dated 80s sound. Strategically adding noise, wow and flutter, cutting the high end... it is really fun to succeed and make stuff that sounds 30 years old. Thanks for the awesome information. I would argue that there are a LOT of people who have a fetish for the dated 80s music aesthetic, especially the Italo sound which is really hard to get in-the-box. I am totally listening to every 80s movie I can, from The Monster Squad to The Heavenly Kid to The Garbage Pail kids. The more wretched sounding, the better. I just really need an 80s rock singer that has a studio and can sing a song.

Should you be so inclined, I would highly recommend looking into the work of Italian composer Riz Ortolani. His work is wonderful, in my view, often beautiful.

Regarding horror films specifically he was the composer of Gualtiero Jacopetti's Mondo Cane (1962) and Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust (1980) The latter being one of my favourite soundtracks ever released.

The Ortolani instrumental "Ti guarderò nel cuore" was reworked (and re-titled to "More") and included in the film Mondo Cane. "More" was subsequently nominated for an Oscar for best song.

By the appearance of what you described of interest in your post you will probably be fond of the latter, Cannibal Holocaust's soundtrack. It contains both the beautiful, the title sequence (possibly my most beloved piece of music) to full "Italo" horror soundtrack (with some funk twist?)

To be sure, as is most often the case with music - It's better heard the described; perhaps particularly so in this case. In any event, it is worthy of listening to for both it's beauty and it's innovation in the realm of horror soundtracks-and beyond.

I believe while the original soundtrack was limited to 1000 records (which I am a proud owner of an unopened copy It was re-released recently on Coffin Records (I believe I do not have my copy at hand) So it should be fairly easy to find currently.

(Please advise if you have any issue finding a copy or if I am incorrect about the label and I will happily help you)

I hope you have occasion to hear some of the aforementioned work and I would love to hear your thoughts should you care to share.

I know this! I'm the biggest nerd ever about this stuff. Carpenter and John Harrison ( Day of the Dead, Creepshow) primarily used a Prophet 5 rev.2. I have spent hours upon hours recreating exact patches and playing along with the soundtracks. Claudio Simonetti from Goblin played a Rhodes MK2, a Minimoog, and a Roland Jupiter 8. Fabio Frizzi played a mellotron and a Minimoog. I honestly think the Prophet 5 and Korg Polysix are both very very capable of capturing this mood perfectly. Check out Manuel De Sica too. And the band Zombi uses a Polysix, Prophet 600, and Pro One to nail the sound effortlessly

Alan Howarth who did a lot of the music for Carpenter used a Prophet, and Arp synths as well as Oberheim stuff- he later got into the Synclavier- all of that was pretty much what the music guys were using, so it really isnt so much about the synth but the sorts of sounds and actual score that was written.

Hi, Just wondering if anybody could recommend any synths that are geared towards 80s horror soundtracks. I'm looking for something with good presets as i'm not much of a tweaker so just wondering if there's a dedicated synth out there that people are using for this sound.
I'm currently using Analog Factory, FM8, NI Massive, Mo8 and trying out the minimonsta demo.

Piggybacking on this, does anyone have any recommendations for truly good preset banks for softsynths like Omnisphere (2), Bazille, Serum, Synthmaster etc that are designed for film, trailer etc scores? Of course there is always "genre overlap", and sounds can be used in many ways (and of course tweaked to your liking), but oftentimes when looking for a sound to start from, you have to wade through lots of patches clearly aimed at the "EDM" crowd, with hoovers and such. As I'm not really a synth wizard myself (though of course playing arond sometimes yields nice results), using/tweaking presets are such a huge help and time-saver if they're the right kind.

For reference, the kind of sounds that I'm looking for could be found in 80's horror/sci-fi films (dark basses, cool pluck and key type sounds) and more modern counterparts, such as the music in Mass Effect, also some 80'/90's industrial style stuff. I'm both interested in the vintage style sounds and more sleek modern sounds that still draw from the vintage style ones.

Piggybacking on this, does anyone have any recommendations for truly good preset banks for softsynths like Omnisphere (2), Bazille, Serum, Synthmaster etc that are designed for film, trailer etc scores? Of course there is always "genre overlap", and sounds can be used in many ways (and of course tweaked to your liking), but oftentimes when looking for a sound to start from, you have to wade through lots of patches clearly aimed at the "EDM" crowd, with hoovers and such. As I'm not really a synth wizard myself (though of course playing arond sometimes yields nice results), using/tweaking presets are such a huge help and time-saver if they're the right kind.

For reference, the kind of sounds that I'm looking for could be found in 80's horror/sci-fi films (dark basses, cool pluck and key type sounds) and more modern counterparts, such as the music in Mass Effect, also some 80'/90's industrial style stuff. I'm both interested in the vintage style sounds and more sleek modern sounds that still draw from the vintage style ones.

Probably it depends not on the synths at all, but in the faith you put in them... the wide panel of synths used shows you can write horror scores with any synth at hand and make it sound awesome. The most difficult part are not the patches, but that the music be fitting the images...

Talking of 80's horror synths... I used to have a Gem SX1000.. now that was a horrible synth
Mine had a built in drum machine.. it wasn't advertised that way. It used to do an after click.. each time you let go of a key you got a kick drum sound.

I would second aTelecine-Lex. Lots of good info there and I remember using the Arturia stuff a few years ago and all their presets out of the box were pretty perfect for the stuff I believe you're talking about.